MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Price Target Raised to $71.50

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) had its target price raised by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $71.50 in a research report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the stock. Morgan Stanley’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 41.66% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on MP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, May 12th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 price target on MP Materials in a report on Friday, May 8th. Barclays began coverage on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $69.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Wedbush raised their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fifteen have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $80.25.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of MP opened at $50.47 on Wednesday. MP Materials has a fifty-two week low of $29.58 and a fifty-two week high of $100.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $60.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.41. The stock has a market cap of $8.99 billion, a PE ratio of -120.18 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.01) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $74.82 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The business’s revenue was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MP Materials will post -0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, COO Michael Stuart Rosenthal purchased 10,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $54.30 per share, with a total value of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 1,205,167 shares of company stock worth $79,371,654. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. purchased a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Financial Consulate Inc. boosted its position in MP Materials by 555.3% in the fourth quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. now owns 557 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corporation operates as a vertically integrated producer of rare earth materials in North America. The company owns and manages the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California, the only commercially viable rare earth mining and processing site in the United States. MP Materials extracts, separates and refines critical rare earth elements—such as neodymium, praseodymium, and cerium—which are essential inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and various defense applications.

The Mountain Pass mine first began commercial rare earth production in the 1950s and was later operated by Molycorp until its bankruptcy in 2015.